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Originally Posted by brandam6
Boy do I wish I had an answer for that. My daughter also has always been chubby. She is 11, 5'2", and currently weighs about 190, and wears size 14 in women.
One of the reasons that I decided to do IP, was that I wanted her to see me doing something about my weight, instead of me complaining about it and just getting heavier. When I started IP, she decided to diet too. Not IP of course, but a more balanced low sugar diet. She has lost 20 lbs.
It was a difficult thing to talk about her weight. It brought up my own insecurities from my mother always telling me how fat I was. I was scared of making her obsess over her weight, like my sister and I always have. I don't know if she will obsess over her weight or not. But I try to be very gentle with her, and just steer her to make the right decisions, and compliment her when she does.
What I hope for my daughter, is that we (she) can get her weight down, and learn all the benefits of healthy eating while she is still young. And I hope that this will give her the tools to maintain.
But you're right, it is a societal issue. The only thing I know to do is to be a better example for my kids, and hopefully they will carry it on to their kids, etc.
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One thing that might help is having Health teachers who teach nutrition actually KNOW something about nutrition. My daughter is 15 and they are currently studying Nutrition. She came home yesterday steaming from the 'nutrition' that she was taught yesterday in class. My daughter knows more about nutrition in her pinky than the teacher did.
The teacher said people who do Low Carb and High Protein have it all backwards because the high fat in protein causes them to take 2 steps back in loosing weight. Huh?? No explanation of good vs bad fat. No dicussion of lean protein vs high-fat protein. No discussion of good vs bad carbs. No explanation of whole grains vs processed/bleached flour and what whole grain actually means.
So - if we want schools to help and teach nutrition - then those teaching need to know a little bit about it.
I'm of the opinion that good nutrition is taught at home. But it's difficult when most of us don't have a good concept of what Good Nutrition actually is. Where were we going to learn it??
People talk about what we eat on IP - but in reality - 2 cups of veggies with salads and lean protein IS good nutrition. Making it a habit to eat your carbs from veggies ensures you get the RDA of veggies. If you stick to 5 veggie a day - you can't help but eat most of your carbs from veggies...you are probably too full to fill up on sugar crap.
I'm lucky that my daughter has always been cautious of what she eats. She was reading labels at age 10 and decided on her own to tell me to stop buying Chef in a can stuff b/c she saw the fat content. She does not have a weight problem but is a muscian rather than an athlete. She's decided on her own that - while she's comfortable with her weight and jean size she wants to firm up for the bathing suit season so she has started running.
I'm also proud to say she told the class - it's not about what you CAN and can NOT eat. It's about how much you eat. Which is true for normal folks and what we'll learn in Phase 4 once we heal our pancrease and level our insulin so our bodies function like 'normal' folks.
Until society stops looking for the fast and quick meal and starts to really understand nutrition and the importance of whole foods - I'm afraid nothing will change and each generation will be sicker than the next. How else will they learn than what they are taught and the examples they see.
I commend you guys for taking control and learning about nutrition so you can be great examples for your daughters. I really believe it starts at home. We are all on our way to be better examples for all of those around us. It has to start some where.
I'm getting over being made fun of for eating my kale chips at work - when everyone else is eating M&Ms.
EDIT: After reading this - I just want to make it clear I'm not bashing ALL teachers. Just this specific case - that if it's the lesson she was teaching that day she should have researched it a little more or had a guest speaker to speak about it. She gave mis-information and half-information. I don't want to come across as Teacher Bashing and sometimes it's hard to get your pont across over the internet.
I couldn't be a teacher AT ALL!!! :-)
My biggest point was - no wonder kids are over weight. With information comes power. We must have correct information and desire inorder to change.
